Religious Education Resources: Social Stories for Church

Carol Gray has developed a technique called social stories to help a child with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) understand cues and actions for specific social situations. Social stories are an effective method of providing both guidance and direction to promote self-awareness, self calming, and self-management in responding to social situations. The technique involves creating a short story that describes the situation and includes appropriate actions and expressions. By creating a short story, the situation is described in terms of relevant social cues, anticipated actions and information on what is occurring and why. The stories are written according to specific guidelines based on Gray’s extensive use of this technique. The story is also customized for the individual and their circumstance (Attwood, 1998).

setbc.org- Under Community Category (Community, Groups, and Events) Visual scripted routine for going to church. Cut each strip, and laminate for durability. Put each strip on a ring. This portable support is like a trip book in that it explains what is going to happen next.

setbc.org- PictureSET is a collection of downloadable visual supports that can be used by students for both receptive and expressive communication in the classroom, at home, and in the community. This searchable database allows you to find a wide range of useful visual supports for different curriculum areas, activities, and events.

*Some children do better with real pictures that can be taken with your digital camera.

About Author

Laura Grace was a special education teacher years ago and has taught CCD for 16 years. She has been a contributor at catholicmom.com since 2006, is part of the Gospel Reflections Team, and creates lesson plans for religious education and homeschooling. In 2008 Laura started her own blog, The Catholic Toolbox where she posts activities, crafts, games, worksheets, puzzles, lesson plans, classroom tips, etc. for all ages.

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